Sleep Apnea and Your Kidneys

Sleep apnea is associated with a disheartening number of chronic ailments. Over the last ten years, obstructive sleep apnea has been linked to heart disease, stroke, arthritis, even diminished IQ in children. For this reason, it is considered something of a canary in the coalmine: often present, but rarely to blame.

No study has definitively proven that apnea is the primary cause of these other issues, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t play a role; more likely it appears within a constellation of proximate health problems that include obesity and lack of exercise.

Now a recent study has found yet another concerning correlation: it seems that patients with obstructive sleep apnea and diabetes are more likely to get chronic kidney disease if their apnea is severe:

“This study shows that a high-risk score for obstructive sleep apnea is common in non-dialysis CKD patients with diabetic nephropathy and is associated with more rapid loss of renal function,” the researchers wrote. “This simple approach identifies patients at higher risk of CKD progression.”